Lucky Links to Grand Canyon Essentials

Hi!  I'm Melanie Tucker, owner of Tough Love Travel.  I'd love to plan YOUR next adventure, here in the US or abroad! 

Grab a 20-minute free phone call to tell me what's on YOUR bucket list!

Here's an At-A-Glance directory for 7 of my most important Grand Canyon sites:

#1:  Map of FREE shuttle
The Grand Canyon has a remarkable shuttle service, and it's all free!  
You can hop a ride around the Grand Canyon village:

Or take a scenic 80-minute ride along Hermit Road:

Here are all your choices, and their time schedules!

#2: Schedule of Ranger events
Here's the schedule, for everything from geology walks, to critter chats (all about the very cute to the very venomous creatures of the Grand Canyon) to campfire programs:
South Rim Summer 2013 Program Schedule

#3:  How to get from South to North Rim
There's a Grand Canyon Shuttle  and a Trans-Canyon Shuttle, plus airlines.  For travel times, daily pickups, and costs, go here!

For those of you who are confused about South vs. North Rim, and why it's so complicated, here's a map that'll explain the transportation conundrum:

#4:  Availability of a Cabin on the Rim! 
For $154/night, you can sleep here: 

And have this view:

What's the trick?  Plan early and (preferably) go off season.   Here's the link for more info!

#5:  Grand Canyon RR (to/from the town of Williams)
Make your national park visit into a glorious adventure by starting in the town of Williams and chugging on the railroad up through the desert to the Grand Canyon village.   
There's a gunslinger's train holdup to excite the kids, and refreshment for the adults! 
And you can do the whole journey, roundtrip, in a single day,  or grab a lodge in the park for an overnight!
Read more here!

#6:   Most beautiful (and coolest) spot at the Grand Canyon: Havasu Falls

Blue-green gushing waterfalls in the midst of this arid desert?  YES! 
They're on the Havasupai Indian Reservation about 4 hours west of Grand Canyon.   Permits are needed - make your reservations early, by emailing here!


#7:  The Haulapai Tribe's Skywalk

On their tribal reservation, about 250 miles (or 5 hours) from the South Rim, the Haulapai have created a special Grand Canyon attraction. 

It's a horseshoe-shaped, glass-floored walkway that juts 70' out beyond the Grand Canyon rim, and -- short of an Evil-Kenevil stunt -- is one of the only ways to see the Grand Canyon's crevasse below your own 2 feet!  Here's Visitor Information!

BONUS!    
Best sidetrip from the Grand Canyon:  Lake Powell houseboating!
Only a few hours north of the Grand Canyon NP, you'll find the refreshing water playground of Lake Powell.   It's the perfect reward for days of Grand Canyon hiking, and -- as a spunky young Utah receptionist told me on the phone one day, "If ya can drive a car, ya can drive a houseboat!"

This is not actually a true statement (as I found out!),  but you'll have fun trying.
Here's where you can reserve a boat! 
And if you want to read about one family's houseboat adventure on Lake Powell, click here!

Love to read about rare finds from "the road". 

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